How to tell firefox to open PDF files with kpdf instead of embedded acroread

Hi,

when I follow a link to a pdf file it will be opened in an embedded
AcrobatReader. How can I change that behavior?

There's nothing listed in

Preferences -> Content -> File Types -> Manage

and it doesn't seem to follow the rules defined in my ~/.mailcap, too.

I'm using FF 2.0.0.6 on Gentoo GNU/Linux.

Bye,
Tassilo

08-08-2007, 10:21 AM

unix

Re: How to tell firefox to open PDF files with kpdf instead of embeddedacroread

Tassilo Horn wrote:[color=blue]
> Hi,
>
> when I follow a link to a pdf file it will be opened in an embedded
> AcrobatReader. How can I change that behavior?
>
> There's nothing listed in
>
> Preferences -> Content -> File Types -> Manage
>
> and it doesn't seem to follow the rules defined in my ~/.mailcap, too.
>
> I'm using FF 2.0.0.6 on Gentoo GNU/Linux.
>
> Bye,
> Tassilo[/color]

Hi,

check:
help| about plugins

Is there any entry there for acroread/PDF files?

If so close firefox and remove the plugin from plugin sub-directory
where you have installed firefox.

Ian

08-08-2007, 10:43 AM

unix

Re: How to tell firefox to open PDF files with kpdf instead of embedded acroread

Ian <hearts1874@gmail.com> writes:

Hi Ian,
[color=blue]
> check:
> help| about plugins
>
> Is there any entry there for acroread/PDF files?[/color]

There's no such item in the Help menu.
[color=blue]
> If so close firefox and remove the plugin from plugin sub-directory
> where you have installed firefox.[/color]

Oh, there's a file /home/heimdall/.mozilla/firefox/pluginreg.dat which
seems to register the acroread plugin. But it states that it is
auto-generated and shouldn't be edited. Now I found out that my
installed acroread has netscape plugin support enabled. After
reinstalling it without that, PDF files are opened in an external
viewer.

Thanks,
Tassilo

08-08-2007, 11:14 AM

unix

Re: How to tell firefox to open PDF files with kpdf instead of embeddedacroread

Tassilo Horn wrote:[color=blue]
> Ian <hearts1874@gmail.com> writes:
>
> Hi Ian,
>[color=green]
>> check:
>> help| about plugins
>>
>> Is there any entry there for acroread/PDF files?[/color]
>
> There's no such item in the Help menu.
>[color=green]
>> If so close firefox and remove the plugin from plugin sub-directory
>> where you have installed firefox.[/color]
>
> Oh, there's a file /home/heimdall/.mozilla/firefox/pluginreg.dat which
> seems to register the acroread plugin. But it states that it is
> auto-generated and shouldn't be edited. Now I found out that my
> installed acroread has netscape plugin support enabled. After
> reinstalling it without that, PDF files are opened in an external
> viewer.
>
> Thanks,
> Tassilo[/color]

Actually it's an Acrobat option. Under settings/internet there's a
choice of "open in browser window" - uncheck this and it opens in Reader.

Andrew

08-08-2007, 11:59 AM

unix

Re: How to tell firefox to open PDF files with kpdf instead of embedded acroread

ajwh <a.hilson@medsch.ucl.ac.uk> writes:

Hi Andrew,
[color=blue][color=green]
>> Oh, there's a file /home/heimdall/.mozilla/firefox/pluginreg.dat
>> which seems to register the acroread plugin. But it states that it
>> is auto-generated and shouldn't be edited. Now I found out that my
>> installed acroread has netscape plugin support enabled. After
>> reinstalling it without that, PDF files are opened in an external
>> viewer.[/color]
>
> Actually it's an Acrobat option. Under settings/internet there's a
> choice of "open in browser window" - uncheck this and it opens in
> Reader.[/color]

Well, with the nsplugin and the above option unchecked it would still be
Acrobat Reader. I don't want to use it at all, so removing the plugin
seems to be the best solution for me.

Bye,
Tassilo
--
The glass is neither half-full nor half-empty: it's twice as big as it
needs to be.

08-08-2007, 02:27 PM

unix

Re: How to tell firefox to open PDF files with kpdf instead of embeddedacroread

There is a useful extension available which should solve this problem:
[url]https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/636[/url]

regards

S.Sanatani

Tassilo Horn wrote:[color=blue]
> ajwh <a.hilson@medsch.ucl.ac.uk> writes:
>
> Hi Andrew,
>[color=green][color=darkred]
>>> Oh, there's a file /home/heimdall/.mozilla/firefox/pluginreg.dat
>>> which seems to register the acroread plugin. But it states that it
>>> is auto-generated and shouldn't be edited. Now I found out that my
>>> installed acroread has netscape plugin support enabled. After
>>> reinstalling it without that, PDF files are opened in an external
>>> viewer.[/color]
>> Actually it's an Acrobat option. Under settings/internet there's a
>> choice of "open in browser window" - uncheck this and it opens in
>> Reader.[/color]
>
> Well, with the nsplugin and the above option unchecked it would still be
> Acrobat Reader. I don't want to use it at all, so removing the plugin
> seems to be the best solution for me.
>
> Bye,
> Tassilo[/color]

08-08-2007, 06:35 PM

unix

Re: How to tell firefox to open PDF files with kpdf instead of embeddedacroread

Ian wrote:[color=blue]
> Tassilo Horn wrote:[color=green]
>> Hi,
>>
>> when I follow a link to a pdf file it will be opened in an embedded
>> AcrobatReader. How can I change that behavior?
>>
>> There's nothing listed in
>>
>> Preferences -> Content -> File Types -> Manage
>>
>> and it doesn't seem to follow the rules defined in my ~/.mailcap, too.
>>
>> I'm using FF 2.0.0.6 on Gentoo GNU/Linux.
>>
>> Bye,
>> Tassilo[/color]
>
> Hi,
>
> check:
> help| about plugins
>
> Is there any entry there for acroread/PDF files?
>
> If so close firefox and remove the plugin from plugin sub-directory
> where you have installed firefox.
>
> Ian
>
>[/color]
Try the MIME Edit extension. It can set the helper application to
anything you like.

08-09-2007, 07:53 AM

unix

Re: How to tell firefox to open PDF files with kpdf instead of embeddedacroread

Tassilo Horn wrote:[color=blue]
> Hi,
>
> when I follow a link to a pdf file it will be opened in an embedded
> AcrobatReader. How can I change that behavior?
>
> There's nothing listed in
>
> Preferences -> Content -> File Types -> Manage
>
> and it doesn't seem to follow the rules defined in my ~/.mailcap, too.
>
> I'm using FF 2.0.0.6 on Gentoo GNU/Linux.
>
> Bye,
> Tassilo[/color]

You can set this in the AcrobatReader preferences.

--
Ron Hunter [email]rphunter@charter.net[/email]

08-29-2007, 06:31 PM

unix

Re: How to tell firefox to open PDF files with kpdf instead of embedded acroread

On Aug 8, 6:21 am, Ian <hearts1...@gmail.com> wrote:[color=blue]
> If so close firefox and remove the plugin from plugin sub-directory
> where you have installed firefox.[/color]

Hi,

I am a sysadmin and just discovered this thread while
trying to accommodate a user's reasonable request to
have PDF files opened with his preferred viewer.

In my situation, obviously, to remove the plugin is
unworkable because the software is installed
systemwide and this ought to be a per-user preference.

Acrobat happens to offer a menu option to disable its
own plugin, but this technique obviously doesn't generalize
to other plugins and is no substitute for a reliable way
to control plugins within FF.

I was able to set the preference myself in an earlier version
of FF, simply by going to Edit / Preferences / Content / File
Types / Manage and changing the behavior for application/pdf.
In 2.0.0.6 that seems no longer possible, because the file type does
not even show up in File Types / Manage. PDFs are now
unconditionally opened with the plugin without ever being added
to the list, so no opportunity to change the behavior is offered.

I have confirmed this by using firefox -ProfileManager to create
a new profile. Now FF treats PDFs as I want them treated when
using my old profile (created with an earlier FF), but when using
my new profile, it unconditionally uses the plugin and offers no
possibility of change.

By comparing about:config in the two profiles, I see that the
older, working profile has the following user-set variables:

I've confirmed that by adding only the last of these,
plugin.disable_full_page_plugin_for_types, then quitting
and restarting FF, I can force a "How to handle" dialog
to appear for a PDF file. After checking "Do this
automatically," the file type will thereafter appear in
Edit / Preferences / Content / File Types / Manage
where it can be changed as desired.

I am hoping that the failure of PDF to appear there
without all this runaround is actually a bug, and not
the latest usability enhancement!